Anevia Tirabade
Born a man and originally named Anvenn, Anevia grew up on the streets of Nisroch, and witnessed a hundred horrors by age 12. Anvenn's mother worked for a gang of outlaw artists and thieves, an occupation dangerous in any city but especially risky in the back streets of Nisroch. She raised her son with an appreciation of freedom to speak and love of art, while her gang taught young Anvenn how to pick locks and pockets. Although he proved an adept pupil of thievery, Anvenn always felt awkward in his skin and avoided making friends as a result. In art and literature, Anvenn increasingly found himself identifying with strong female figures rather than their male counterparts-and for most ofhis life Anvenn would carry the conviction that he had been born into the wrong body. When Anvenn was 12, the Silent Shroud (Nisroch's ruthless lawkeepers) attacked the guild. As the attack commenced, his mother gave him an address to memorize, and told him, "Go there and tell the lady who answers the door that you're a half-wilted rose. I'll meet you there if I can, but ifl don't arrive by dawn tomorrow, she will provide for you." Anvenn knew what his mother was saying, for growing up in Nisroch makes one a realist if nothing else. After a parting hug too brief even for tears, Anvenn fled the guild into the city-and he never saw his mother again. Arriving at the address, the young refugee was taken in by a priestess of Desna named Veeruh, an old friend of Anvenn's mother. She raised him as her daughter for the next 6 years. While the disguise was intended to throw off pursuit, Anvenn (who now went by the name Anevia) discovered that she felt right in this new persona. As she grew older, she longed to experience life outside of Nidal, and when she turned 18 she left Nisroch forever with her foster mother's blessing. For the next 4 years she made her way north across the continent. She occasionally made contact with temples of Desna on her travels, offering her services as a thief or scout for whatever missions the temple saw fit to send her on. It was on such a mission that she met the woman who would change her life forever. While wintering in the city of Tymon, Anevia was hired by a Desnan scholar to retrieve several sacred objects from a forgotten shrine in the northwestern River Kingdoms. Unknown to her, though, this "scholar" was in fact a kyton-blooded tiefling spy in service to the Silent Shroud who had been tracking her for years, and the "shrine" she'd been tasked with locating was merely a ruined tower where the agent's mercenaries were lying in ambush. Anevia was captured, but as fortune would have it, the spy was himself being tracked by a paladin named Irabeth. This half-ore paladin caught up with the mercenaries just as they were preparing to hobble the captured Anevia with a bone saw; she killed the mercenaries and their tiefling leader and rescued Anevia. In thanks for her rescue, Anevia pledged her skills to Irabeth, but the paladin would have none of it, saying, "You're welcome to travel with me, but you owe me nothing." As it worked out, Irabeth was about to return to the city of Kenabres after several years away from home-and by the time the two reached their destination, they'd fallen in love. Anevia had revealed herself to actually be a man to Irabeth, but this didn't matter to the paladin, who had learned to value a companion's personality over her appearance. In fact, Irabeth spent a fair amount of her personal wealth (including selling her father's sword) to fund the purchase of an elixir for Anevia, one that would shift her physical gender to match the rest ofher. Anevia and Irabeth were wedded in the Cathedral of Saint Clydwell soon thereafter. Anevia often marvels at the strange road that led her to this life. She enjoys the prestige she receives as the wife of a member of the Eagle Watch, and assists Irabeth's work by volunteering at the Temple of Iomedae. She reads to the sick and helps make bandages and prepare meals. On occasion, the temple asks Anevia to undertake scouting missions along the river and report on activity in the Worldwound. Though Anevia knows her wife worries about her when she agrees to these missions, she loves the feeling of excitement and accomplishment they bring, as well as the fact that they allow her to scratch the itch of wanderlust that surges up within her occasionally. Anevia is known for her quick wit. Normally a friendly soul, she tends to treat everyone she meets frankly, regardless of their occupation, race, or social standing-a habit that's made her few allies among some of Kenabres's less devout or honest citizens. She does her best to hide all traces of the scarred child from Nidal, drawing upon her current happiness to overshadow those evil memories. Anevia tithes to Shelyn and Desna as well as Iomedae, but increasingly considers the Inheritor her patron because she believes Iomedae drew her to Irabeth. Anevia is frightened to be trapped below Kenabres, and while the scared child of Nisroch threatens to emerge, she does her best to stay levelheaded and calm, for in truth she's more worried about Irabeth and what's happening on the surface than her own fate.